Beijing: China today (Feb 12, 2004) said it will sign new agreements with India in the cultural field, including setting up the first cultural centre in each others' capital to give fillip to the all-round development of bilateral relations.

"When the condition ripens, China will conclude new agreements with India on the implementation of cultural cooperation and exchange," Minister of Culture, Sun Jiazheng said when asked to comment on the progress made in setting up an Indian cultural centre in Beijing and a Chinese cultural centre in New Delhi.

"On the basis of signing the agreement on setting up cultural centres in both countries, the other parts of our cultural cooperation and exchange are also developing very smoothly," Sun told reporters.

India and China had singed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the reciprocal establishment of cultural centres in their capitals during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's landmark visit to Beijing in June last year.